SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Texas Rangers public address announcer and in-game presentation guru Chuck Morgan said Thursday that the video of the memorable moment of Nolan Ryan putting Robin Ventura in headlock and punching him will not be shown opening weekend and probably only once all season.
Ventura, now the manager of the Chicago White Sox, brings his team to town for the opening series of the 2012 season April 6-8.
"We may show it on the day it happened as part of the 40th anniversary moments, but that's probably it," Morgan said. "I just thought this offseason that we didn't need to be showing that anymore. I watched how St. Louis treated Stan the Man during the playoffs and that's how we should treat Nolan as the face of the franchise. We'll celebrate his no-hitters and other moments."
Morgan said he told Ryan, the club's CEO, of his plans a few weeks ago and Ryan told him he agreed, adding that Morgan could do what he wanted when it came to the highlight montage.
"I also don't think it's right for us on our Opening Day to show a fight and then that whole weekend we're going to treat Robin Ventura with respect," Morgan said. "He's the manager of the White Sox. We don't need to do anything like that."
The fight happened in 1993 when then 46-year-old Ryan hit Ventura with a pitch. Ventura, then 26 years old, charged the mound, but Ryan held his ground, got Ventura in a headlock and started punching. It was shown before nearly every game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington in 2011 and appears in various baseball highlight reels.
"We've got a team that just went to back-to-back World Series and we've got plenty of good moments to show," Morgan said.